4-28-14

Hey Everyone,

I hope all y’all will be safe back home, I'll be keeping you in my prayers. I really hope no tornados touch down close to where y’all are at. Please stay safe!! I heard Walter is working at the VBC now, very nice. It will be good for him. Tell him to become friends with Barney and not to let Kevin get to him too much and to just work hard. I hope work is going well for you dad. How are you and Richard doing? I hope y’all are staying busy.

So Elder Peterson is now in Fallbrook 2nd Ward, (the ward I started my mission in!) and He's a zone leader! I’m really excited for him, but I miss the crud out of that guy. My new companions name is Elder Cowan. He's a country boy from Evanston Wyoming. He lives on a huge ranch and has a little bit of a twang in his voice, (which is kind of nice, I’ve been missing the southern accents from bama). He's awesome, I love the guy. And Elder Mather, my MTC companion is now my zone leader, so that means I will be able to go on exchanges with him, which I am very excited about.

I forgot to mention our Bishop, Bishop Evans, actually lived in Huntsville back in the 90's and worked for Intergraph, small world huh?

We should be meeting with a guy named Michael today, who we talked to on the street a few nights ago. We were doing service that day, it was the end of the night and we only had 30 minutes left and I really didn’t feel like putting pros back on and go back out to work, but we did. And we ran into Michael, so that was one small miracle. We also got a referral last week, her name is Lavell and we will be meeting with her this Thursday.

My trainer Elder Thompson went home last week and he gave a very powerful testimony at the transfer meeting. He stressed that we are not done being missionaries when we finish our missions, we signed up for a life time. This is a strip from his last email that he wrote on his mission.

 "The success of your mission is not measured by the number of people you baptize (whether you just taught them and someone else baptized them or you performed the ordnance yourself), the number of people you bring back to church, or the number of people you ever talked to on the street. It’s not measured by the number of records you set in your mission, it’s not set by how long you stayed in an area. It’s not measured by the number of times you white washed, or trained. It’s not measured by how many of your greenies trained or got a call while you were still with them. What it comes down to when you serve a mission to make it successful is did your mission change you for 2 years or for eternity. If you want your mission to be successful you promise to remain in the church and to preach His Gospel the rest of your life and into eternity." I’m going to miss him, he taught me a lot about the work and about life. Do you ever feel like you don’t know what you got, till it’s gone? haha.

At the end of the Priesthood session of conference there was a young man who came us to Elder Peterson and I and told us " I don’t know you guys, but I just wanted to thank you for being a good example, I just thought I should tell you that, I’m leaving for my mission this summer" I’ve had many subtle moments where people have mentioned that to me, and it has plucked my heart strings to the core. I am reminded of one of the reasons why I’m here and it makes me want to be more converted, work harder, and be a better person than I was before.

 I love you all,

Stay strong, stay true, and look our for one another while I'm gone, alright?

and be safe today!

-Elder Daniel




A very accurate depiction of Jesus a 3 year old drew for us

My first companion and trainer, Elder Thompson, finally headed home last week. Gonna miss him.

                                           New Comp, Elder Cowan!! From Evenston Wyoming

4-21-14

How's it going my awesome family and friends!!!

Lizzie that is so awesome! Isn’t the temple amazing! It is the closest thing to heaven we can get to here on earth. Doing work there makes you feel like a million bucks. There is no greater joy you can feel than within the walls of the temple. Ant, you will be able to come to work with us doing room additions and remodels when I get back with the skills that you’re learning.
This week has been a good one. Elder Ballard can to our mission as well as Elder Maynes of the presidency of the Seventy and Elder Saban from the area presidency. I learned so much about how I can be a more successful missionary. It was a very revelatory experience for sure. Have I ever told you the Apostles look so much older in person? haha. Elder Ballard was great, there was a lot of anticipation leading up to him coming, but when he was up there talking it almost felt like he was your grandpa or something. He has a great quick sense of humor and is very laid back.
 Some of the things they spoke about struck me very hard. We represent the Savior of the world and the creator of mankind. We have the message that everybody needs. People need to know who they were before this life and where they came from in order to return home. We have only two years here and the rest of our lives to look back on our missions. Utilize the time the Lord has given you. We need to take a step back and realize the importance of the work were engaged in. The field is white already to harvest. We are here to harvest, not just plant. 1 Person can change to course of generations by being brought into the gospel. The secret to missionary work is talking to more people. If you talk to more people you will baptize more people. The best teachers are those who teach simply and clearly. The weak and the simple will have the power to teach kings and rulers.
 It’s funny, we expected this huge new revelatory way to be better missionaries, but they just stressed the basics. That’s what will lead to success is just sticking to the basics. We need to be converted from the tops of our heads to the souls of our feet. If you take care of the Lord's business he will take care of yours.
I wish I had more time to talk. Transfer calls were Saturday and we were informed that Elder Peterson is leaving, so I will have a new companion this Tuesday. I will miss Elder Peterson, he has taught me so much just in the space of a month and a half.

I love you all,

Stay true, stay strong, and look out for each other while I’m away, alright?
-Elder Daniel

How I will miss this Elder..

 

The best district ever!

 

4-14-14

How's it going everyone!!

That’s so cool that Jennifer is in drama, I bet she was a boss in Annie. Alex Boy's cousin is going to Bakersfield? Is it Chandler Boy? I can’t remember his name.

When is Alex leaving by the way? He needs to get out in the field! And yes, holy crap, it will be a year in 2 months... this has been the fastest year of my entire life. It has gone by like a dream. Shoot, with how fast the mission is going I'll be home in no time. That’s so Scary!!!! AHHh. SO I haven’t gotten any specifics on Skyping but I’ll let y’all know as soon as I can so it will be more organized and convenient this time. I’ve heard there are a lot of religious films that have come out, have you guys seen any of them and are they any good? I heard they made one about Noah with Russell Crow.

And according to one of my comps last investigators he said that the world is supposed to end today, so do as much repenting as you can! haha. jk
So not much new this week, Conference was awesome, I think I liked Elder Bednar's talk on the Atonement and Elder Holland's talk on defending the faith the best, I think I told you before but Elder Holland’s was exactly what I needed. So Joey and Esmeralda dropped us last week, it’s a bummer but what can you do. Just keep working hard, that’s it. We’ve been working with a guy named Jordan for a couple weeks now, he's a big Hispanic guy probably in his mid-20s. His hang ups are he doesn’t think that baptism is necessary, he doesn’t see that need for the Book of Mormon, and grace. So we will be trying to defuse those here in the near future and see how much longer we will be working with him. If we keep on going in circles we will probably discontinue stopping by. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by receiving the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, not continuing to run around the same subject and waste the precious time we have left here on our missions. Like I expressed already it goes by way too stink'n fast!! Were also continuing to work with Steve, our awesome 6 foot behemoth of a man recent convert and a lady named Pat who is also a recent convert. Pat has a neat story. She is in her late 70s and she lives in an old folks home in our area. She was baptized about a year ago, but the peculiar thing about Pat is that she only has one leg. She had to have it removed or she would have died due to the disease that she had. So she had to be baptized sitting down in a chair in a pool. We go and visit her and continue to strengthen her knowledge of the gospel and help her with any questions she has. Some other big news that I forgot to mention is that Elder Ballard is coming to our mission this Saturday!! He was the one who spoke about missionary work and following up (that’s how he found his wife, haha). It should be amazingly awesome. I’ll let you know how it goes next week.

Well I have to go.

I love you all so much,

Stay true, stay strong, and look out for one another while I’m away, alright?

I mean it. haha

-Elder Daniel

 

Long day, the work does get tough sometimes, but just gotta keep thrustn in dat sickle, haha

 

Intensely reading the Book of Mormon in Korean

Chill'n at Woodland Village old folks home

 

4-7-14

Hello my awesome friends and family!!

This week has been a little slower than usual, but we will pick up the slack this week, were not giving up on this area, well keep putting our shoulder to the wheel and thrusting in our sickle with all our might. This week has been full of much revelation and full of the spirit. General Conference this weekend was amazing. It's seriously like the Super Bowl as a missionary, I love it. I want to share some of the things I got most out of it. My favorites were Elder Scott's, Elder Ballard's, Elder Uchtdorf, and especially Elder Holland's, his talk is exactly what I needed to hear. It is the coolest feeling when you receive revelation that you know is just for you, and when you know that the talks are being given for specific people that you know. Some of the things that stood out to me in my notes were - You will one day defend your faith one way or another, Christ like love is the greatest need on this planet and it will change the world, Do you realize the love the Savior has for you? Even now? He can cleanse us, when the morale of the world change, we do not, if you let the Lord be the leader of your family you will not fail, Faith is the antidote for fear, truth is truth it is not divisible, words that can be firm in information can be soft in spirit, we don’t step down when we are released and we don’t step up when we are called, we need to be priesthood men, we need to serve, and we need to be worthy, we have been sent here because we are able to become masters of ourselves and endure this time, the restoration is an ongoing process we are living in it right now, this is the most remarkable time in history, we bare the priesthood of the most high God we have unspeakable potential, we are sons of light, there is too much at stake to give a halfhearted effort with this work, each of us will be a model of the priesthood one day whether we want to or not, when you know you are a child of God you will better understand what is expected of you, have the courage to do that which is right, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we need to be grateful of our circumstances whatever they may be, the more we learn about the gospel we will discover that there are no true endings only everlasting beginnings, gratitude is the catalyst of all Christ like attributes, let us set aside the things of this world and run the race with patience, you are in the midst of an exhilarating journey. you have been preparing for this time for a millennia, we don’t need to carry our burdens with our obvious limited capacities, the Lord has perfect empathy, we will become agents that act rather than be acted upon, blame keeps wounds open forgiveness heals, everyone has the power to increase the sub total of the world’s happiness, when we get the impression to do something we do not procrastinate we act upon it, the more connected we are to our righteous forefathers the more likely we are to live righteously, there will always be opposition to that that is true, the savior was rejected because He taught truth and the truth will always be opposed, we should look unto Him in every thought, serving others is a hallmark of Christ, faith is truly more than imagination or a physiological creation, some doubt some believe and some know of the Saviors resurrection, may we ever be found doing the work of the Lord - So that was just some of my notes I took. I hope you guy’s received the needed revelation and counsel that we all so desperately need. I know that you did. Go back and listen to all the talks and ponder upon them, pray to know how you can be a little better and how you can better serve those around you.
I love you all, with every fiber of my being.

Stay strong, stay true, and look out for one another while I’m away, alright?

-Elder Daniel

 Going back to my primary days

 

My exchange with Elder Graves last week

Getting some awesome Mexican Food!

Only in Escondido, CA

4-1-14

Hello Everyone!!

So today I was going to send you something like I broke my arm in rush hour traffic under the freeway and I was coming home or something, but being the missionary that I am I thought that would be a foolish idea, and I don’t want to cry wolf and jinx myself.

I got your packages mom, the pants fit awesome and Anthony, thanks for the Darth Vader chocolate man, I ate it all up. I saw the video of the girls getting their wisdom teeth out and everyone in the library looked at me weird for a few seconds when I burst out laughing. It made my day. Sorry for emailing today too, the libraries were closed because of Julio Caesar Chavez day, whoever he is. I can’t believe Andres is coming home, that crazy! He was serving in the Long Beach mission which isn’t too far away from where I’m at, just up the road a little yonder way.

Well I have like no time again so I apologize for the cruddy email.

This week we picked up two new investigators. Their names are Joey and Esmeralda. They are both college kids in their 20s and they are both very interested in the gospel. We taught them the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and answered a lot of their questions, we should be going back by this week. Elder Peterson has a cold and lost his voice at the beginning of the week. His voice would crack whenever he would talk and I couldn’t help myself from laughing but then I started to feel sorry for him. I’ve been praying for him to get better. I’m going to introduce him to the miracle of essential oils here pretty soon. I’ve been thinking a lot about the atonement and how it enables us to become better than we were before. I remembered the quote from Batman where Alfred is talking to Bruce when he feels like he has failed. He says "why do we fall sir? So that we can learn to pick ourselves back up." and then Bruce says “you still haven’t given you on me?” and Alfred says "never". It’s amazing the transformation the atonement can make in our lives and how I’ve seen it firsthand here on my mission.

Well I’ve got to go, when you guys watch general conference watch it with a question in mind so that you can receive personal revelation for the things on your mind.

I love you all,

Stay strong, stay true, and look out for one another while I’m away, alright?

-Elder Daniel

 Thank Tony

 District Meeting

So Long Murrietta

 

 

 

         Here are some pics I’ve been meaning to send               members from my last area in Murrieta.

The Prinas

The Smedleys (the awesome family I lived with)

 

The Baaks (one of the coolest families you will ever meet)

 

Brother and Sister Boaz (he's the musical composer I was talking about. SUPER awesome member)

 

  The Phetheans

                                          So long Murrieta, its been real, off to San Marcos!